’Tis the season to give thanks. It’s the time of year when we ask each other, “What are you thankful for?” And studies indicate that 78 percent of Americans say they felt strongly grateful in the past week.

Yet in practice many of us struggle to move beyond perfunctory gratitude. Writer and theologian Diana Butler Bass is one of those people. In her latest book, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks, she confesses her own challenges with this topic. One question she delves into is this: is it possible—or even healthy—to be grateful in the midst of suffering?

Bass writes about the long years it took for her to begin healing from the abuse she experienced from a relative. “I cannot remember a single moment when I was able to forgive,” she writes. But “one morning some forty years after the fact, I woke up feeling sorry for my uncle….And I felt oddly grateful. Not for his suffering or for the injustice done to me. No one should ever feel grateful for sin, evil, or violence. No one should ever express gratitude for the bad choices of others—those bad choices are never gifts. I do not know if what I felt was forgiveness, but I experienced a profound sense of appreciation that my own pain had not taken the same form that his had. This suddenly seemed a miracle.”

She also tells a story of getting fired from her job teaching in a Christian college. When he let her go, the president said, “You just don’t fit. This wouldn’t be a good place for you. One day you will thank me for this.” The comment added insult to injury for Bass, who describes her feelings of betrayal, anger, and indignation. Who was he to tell her she would be grateful?

But a week later a friend challenged her to come up with one thing she was grateful for. “I struggled. I could think of about a hundred things that frightened and worried me. Finally, I blurted out, ‘For my friend Julie.’” That was the beginning. Bass started a journal in which she wrote down one thing each day that she was thankful for. The practice helped her begin to notice the gifts in her life. And it started changing how she viewed the world.

Gratitude journals are a common way to practice thankfulness these days. Yet Bass names some potential pitfalls of such tools. “My gratitude diary became a kind of list of the benefits of being a middle-class white person. It actually made me uncomfortable. I realized that I thought of gratitude as a commodity tally, a sort of positive emotional account of nice stuff.” She goes on to note that paying attention to the good things in her life was indeed a helpful practice, but it only goes so far. “Gratitude, at its deepest and most transformative level, is not warm feelings about what we have. Instead, gratitude is the deep ability to embrace the gift of who we are, that we are, that in the multibillion-year history of the universe each one of us has been born, can love, grows in awareness, and has a story.”

The book outlines other practices that help cultivate gratitude—gratitude prayers, the Ignatian practice of Examen. But what makes Grateful different from other books on this subject is Bass’s invitation to expand beyond individual practices to corporate or communal thanksgiving. She points to festivals, social media, graduation ceremonies and parades, and of course the Eucharist—the most holy of feasts we share, with gratitude, together.

Grateful is a call to practice thankfulness when we don’t feel like it. Bass is an honest, vulnerable guide, and she reminds us that we share the journey together. The book concludes, “Give thanks. Live in gratitude. There is a place for you at the table.”

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/11/21/the-hard-work-of-gratitude/feed/0Obituary: George Peter Magnusonhttps://covenantcompanion.com/2018/10/29/obituary-george-peter-magnuson/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/10/29/obituary-george-peter-magnuson/#commentsMon, 29 Oct 2018 21:47:24 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=40943DENVER, CO (October 29, 2018) – George Peter Magnuson, who served multiple Covenant congregations and the Central Conference, died Thursday, October 18. He was 84. George was born October 8, 1934, in Chicago to Raymond and Astrid Magnuson. He attended [...]

DENVER, CO (October 29, 2018) – George Peter Magnuson, who served multiple Covenant congregations and the Central Conference, died Thursday, October 18. He was 84.

George was born October 8, 1934, in Chicago to Raymond and Astrid Magnuson. He attended North Park Junior College and earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota. He graduated from North Park Theological Seminary.

He served as associate pastor at Trinity Covenant Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois, and Hinsdale (Illinois) Covenant Church. He then served on the staff of the Central Conference, overseeing Christian education, during which time he led a goal-setting and restructuring process. He also served on the faculty of McCormick Theological Seminary, where he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree.

George transferred his ordination to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and served as the general presbyter of the Presbytery of the Peaks in Virginia, and then a similar position in the Presbytery of Boston.

He married Quiwie (Carolyn) Blomgren in 1959. They were later divorced.

In 1998, he married Carrie Doehring, and the couple moved to Denver when she joined the faculty of Iliff School of Theology. In 2008 George was ordained in the Episcopal Church and served as assisting priest at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Denver until 2016.

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/10/29/obituary-george-peter-magnuson/feed/540 Students Enroll in New NPTS Program at Stateville Correctional Centerhttps://covenantcompanion.com/2018/10/04/40-students-enroll-in-new-npts-program-at-stateville-correctional-center/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/10/04/40-students-enroll-in-new-npts-program-at-stateville-correctional-center/#commentsFri, 05 Oct 2018 00:32:13 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=40699The School of Restorative Arts, operated by North Park Theological Seminary, celebrated its opening last week at Stateville Correctional Center.

“You don’t hear this much from guys who are locked up, but I’m so glad to be here today.”

That’s how Michael Simmons began his remarks to celebrate the opening of the new School of Restorative Arts last week at Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison outside of Chicago.

The School is operated by North Park Theological Seminary and offers a Master of Arts in Christian ministry with a restorative arts focus, which includes courses on ministries of restoration through personal healing and community relationships. The degree extends NPTS’s traditional MA degree to include courses to prepare those who desire to do ministry in contexts susceptible to violence. Many of the students participated in pilot courses over the past three years and now have the opportunity to earn a degree. (“Letters from Stateville” featured students enrolled in one of those pilot courses.)

Michael Simmons

Simmons is a member of the first cohort of 40 students.

New North Park President Mary Surridge attended the first day of class with the students in August. At the ceremony last week, she said to them, “I’ve been in this role for one month and here’s what I know already: the best part of the job as president is being with the students.”

The idea for the School was birthed in a sabbatical project of Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, professor of theology and ethics at the seminary. She also is the director for the new School.

Her research on the impact of education programs in prison indicated that higher-education programs such as the School of Restorative Arts significantly reduce recidivism and save the state an average of $5 for every $1 invested.

“Education in prison improves relations between students and staff and between racial groups. Students also become powerful role models for their children,” she said. “Most important, education helps people build meaningful lives on the inside and upon release. This program has the potential to positively impact the culture in prisons across Illinois at a grassroots level.” The program primarily serves those with long-term sentences who may be able to transfer to other prisons around the state upon completion of the program.

North Park University President Mary Surridge with School of Restorative Arts student William Jones

In addition to classic theological disciplines, students take courses in trauma and healing, racial reconciliation, religions and cultures, conflict transformation, and transformative justice. The restorative arts focus moves students from basic ministry knowledge to comprehension, analysis, and application of ministries of restoration. They focus not only on their own individual learning but on growing and deepening relationships with other students in the cohort, which is composed of both free and incarcerated persons.

Students will develop skills that are useful both inside and outside prison, from facilitating Bible studies, creative communication, and walking with people who are grieving or dying to analyzing factors that lead to incarceration, including prison pipelines.

Also in attendance at the event were dignitaries and state officials, including Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti and John Baldwin, director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, who told the gathering, “It’s a pretty rare event when an elected official comes to this institution. It’s a sign of how seriously we take this program.”

Deborah Penny, associate director of contextual and lifelong learning at the seminary, celebrates the day with students.

Burl Cain, former warden of Angola prison and founder of Global Prison Seminaries Foundation, encouraged the students to be servant leaders even in the midst of their studies. Cain has been a pioneer in offering theological education to people who are incarcerated. He partnered with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary more than 20 years ago to launch a Bible College. Speaking at the celebration, he emphasized the power of rehabilitation when it emerges from the example and leadership of students themselves.

“I’ve been inside prison for seventeen years and in Stateville for three,” Simmons told the gathering, “but I am learning in class that there’s strength in being vulnerable.”

That’s a common theme among the students. One added, “Inside, it can be dangerous to show weakness, but we are learning that vulnerability can be empowering.”

Steven Feagin talked about the significant impact the courses are making on him. “I came here from Florida,” he said. “I grew up with 17 brothers and sisters—all from the same mother and father, which is different from a lot of people here. I came up here to go to Northwestern on a football scholarship. I haven’t been in the system before—this is my first incarceration.”

Steven Feagin (left) and Richard Turner

He went on to describe an assignment in the course “Women, the Bible, and the Church” in which students were asked to write an argumentative essay one week, then the next week, to argue for the other side on a topic of their choosing. “I couldn’t do it,” Feagin said. “I couldn’t write from another perspective. Everyone else handed in their second papers, but I couldn’t write mine.” His professors agreed to let him alter the assignment. But then Feagin thought about it further. “I realized I needed to at least try. And I was able to write that paper. I learned to open up to new perspectives.”

Such assignments help students to embody empathy toward others, humility before God, and appreciation of a variety of cultural perspectives—all of which are tools in the work of restoration, said Clifton-Soderstrom.

At the conclusion of the celebration, all the participants gathered for a reception with cake and pastries. “This is the first time we’ve ever been able to eat together,” Clifton-Soderstrom said. “It’s a really good day!”

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/10/04/40-students-enroll-in-new-npts-program-at-stateville-correctional-center/feed/8“Whether in a Longhouse or at a Powwow, Dance Is a Spiritual Act”https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/30/whether-in-a-longhouse-or-at-a-powwow-dance-is-a-spiritual-act/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/30/whether-in-a-longhouse-or-at-a-powwow-dance-is-a-spiritual-act/#commentsMon, 30 Jul 2018 23:14:50 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=39968KNOXVILLE, TN (July 30, 2018)—When the group Mending Wings shared traditional Native American dances with students recently at CHIC, it was the first time Native Americans had ever been featured on the MainStage. “It was so significant that the Mending Wings [...]

KNOXVILLE, TN (July 30, 2018)—When the group Mending Wings shared traditional Native American dances with students recently at CHIC, it was the first time Native Americans had ever been featured on the MainStage.

“It was so significant that the Mending Wings youth were given the opportunity to share their gift of prayer and dance with our Covenant community through their culture,” said Curtis Ivanoff, superintendent of the Alaska Conference. “It was powerful to see their gift received with so much joy. Our Native culture is beautiful and so often not seen, or too often misrepresented or misunderstood.”

Mending Wings was founded by Corey Greaves in 2006—the idea was birthed out of his own deep frustration after a conference. As a youth pastor, he had mostly served under non-Native leaders at that point. “The conference was for Native youth, but when it was over my mind was restless,” he said. “The only thing that made it a Native youth conference was that there were Native youth there. I was asking, ‘How can we as Native folks follow the Jesus way as Indian people? What does that look like, sound like, smell like?’ I’m not one of those people who say, ‘God told me,’ because I think we throw that language around to justify what we want to do—but I got a really clear vision that day.”

These are the words he heard:

My people were here long before
the others cast their sails to the wind
Before the tears of innocence
like a heartbreak would descend
My people spread like eagle’s wings
across the mountains and the plains
Now our feathers have been broken,
but the eagle still remains.

That’s when he understood that he was to be about the work of mending wings.

Keisha Dave (left) and Mending Wings founder Corey Greaves

That vision led to his founding the nonprofit organization to empower Native American youth and families. The mission of Mending Wings is to help them to walk together in wholeness and beauty, honor the Creator through their cultures and lives, heal through programs that facilitate wholeness, and share with others the hope they find as followers of the Jesus way in a culturally relevant manner.

One program they offer is Dancing Our Prayers, a group of around 15-20 young people who go out to churches to share traditional dances, drama, and testimonies—they call it sharing Christ in culture. One of the dancers at CHIC, Keisha Dave, said, “We reconnect with the people in the audience. Sometimes we do a friendship dance with a call and response. The people get involved too.”

Greaves explained, “When we dance it is a spiritual act. Whether it’s in a longhouse or at a powwow, there’s still spirituality to it. There’s hardly anything that we wouldn’t call spiritual. The earth is spiritual, we come from the earth—even the cars that we drive are made of materials that comes from the earth.”

Ivanoff added, “I hope this moment can help to further connections and relationship with our indigenous brothers and sisters across this land in the ECC. Hopefully we will see and hear of more stories like this, as it only makes our church stronger and the mosaic more beautiful—like heaven.”

Mending Wings is a partner ministry of the Pacific Northwest Conference and several of churches there through Journey to Mosaic and SLAM (Students Learning About Mission) trips, which are a cross-cultural mission trips within an indigenous paradigm. “We want students to adopt a learning posture, where they don’t come to teach us but instead come and work with our elders, doing whatever the elders want them to do. If you’d like to learn about us—not from history books that aren’t written by Native people, but to let some reconciliation happen between the church and Native people—we are inviting you to come to the reservation to be part of our home,” Greaves said.

I hope this moment can help to further connections and relationship with our indigenous brothers and sisters.

Mending Wings offers language classes, community healers, leadership opportunities, and social groups. The youth group includes 350 students. “We’ve been able to speak into the lives of hundreds of Native teens,” Greaves said. “We’ve grown in our vision and purpose. We focus a lot on cultural revitalization.”

Dave added, “Our Native American culture is not a public thing. It’s given to us. It’s significant to us. Sometimes people say they like our costumes or our shoes and ask where they can buy some. But those items aren’t really things you can buy.” She explained, “You can buy Halloween costumes, but that mimics us. It’s regalia, not a costume. They aren’t shoes, they’re moccasins. You’re supposed to ask before you touch.”

Greg Yee, superintendent of the Pacific Northwest Conference, said, “There’s a lot of ignorance and negative stereotypes out there. There’s never enough time in this kind of setting to create the relational capital needed to unravel the decades and centuries of brokenness. We are blessed here in the Pacific Northwest Conference because we live alongside our Yakama family. Relationships have been building for many years.”

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/30/whether-in-a-longhouse-or-at-a-powwow-dance-is-a-spiritual-act/feed/3Cultivating Young Leaders with the New Presidenthttps://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/19/cultivating-young-leaders-with-the-new-president/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/19/cultivating-young-leaders-with-the-new-president/#respondThu, 19 Jul 2018 23:50:07 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=39788KNOXVILLE, TN (July 19, 2018)—On Wednesday afternoon 31 up-and-coming student leaders at CHIC joined ECC president-elect John Wenrich for a mini leadership summit. “My call into leadership began when I was 16,” Wenrich told them. He described his own experience [...]

“My call into leadership began when I was 16,” Wenrich told them. He described his own experience of being invited as a junior in high school to lead other students at his church. As he grew older, that call was affirmed and re-affirmed.

But that first call came when he was the same age as many students here at CHIC. “This is a landmark moment in your journeys,” he told them.

Ruby Varghese also shared her story of being called into leadership—initially in settings that didn’t support women in ministry. “I thought women could be missionaries and Sunday school teachers. I kept seeing doors close for other opportunities,” she said.

Now, however, she is serves as assistant pastor of youth and college ministries at Quest Church in Seattle.

Ruby Varghese and John Wenrich speaking to student leaders.

Wenrich took a few minutes to talk about definitions and traits of leadership, then outlined six action steps—ways students can lean into their calling as leaders as soon as they go home.

Sharing their own takeaways around tables, one student said, “I need to ask more questions—and be more involved with what my calling might be.”

Another said, “I didn’t know that women could be in ministry.”

And Troian Stroot, from Roseau ( Minnesota) Covenant Church had a transformative moment. “I knew God was calling me into ministry before this week,” she said. But she had been resisting. “I kept avoiding it,” she said.

Then the speaker on Monday night asked, “What are you running from?” And Stroot knew. At that moment she saw the word “speaker” in her head, and she knew what God wanted her to do.

“But what could I do about it now?” she asked. “I have another year of high school—I can’t do much yet. And then I came to this lunch. And it had action steps. God spoke to me here—this is just what I needed.”

The action steps Wenrich shared were:

Dive in to the Word and Spirit.

Train in a discipleship relationship.

Lead something.

Read The Making of a Leader, by Robert Clinton.

Check out the Crux program at North Park University.

Pray this prayer: “I’ll go where you want me to go, say what you want me to say, do what you want me to do, with whoever you want me to be with. Amen.”

Explaining why he took the time to connect with young leaders, Wenrich said, “Conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit is so important to me. I felt led by the Spirit to call high school students who are exceptional servant leaders, through the communal discernment of youth leaders, to encourage God’s work in their life and give them a vision for full-time or bivocational ministry.”

He added, “I have a passion for leadership development. Why not start in high school? This was an opportunity for me to give back.”

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/19/cultivating-young-leaders-with-the-new-president/feed/0CHIC Takes Students on ‘Refugee Journey’https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/17/chic-takes-students-on-refugee-journey/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/17/chic-takes-students-on-refugee-journey/#commentsTue, 17 Jul 2018 22:47:22 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=39753KNOXVILLE, TN (July 17, 2018) — The students are grouped into fictional families from either Syria or South Sudan. Some play the role of a doctor working in a hospital, some work as farmers in the field, others play children [...]

KNOXVILLE, TN (July 17, 2018) — The students are grouped into fictional families from either Syria or South Sudan. Some play the role of a doctor working in a hospital, some work as farmers in the field, others play children who attend school or play soccer. Suddenly loud sirens accompanied by people shouting and giving orders disrupt their daily activities. In the ensuing chaos the “families” are split up, and eventually hundreds of students are unceremoniously herded into makeshift tents.

It’s a disturbing scene. And it forcefully illustrates a hint of what people experience in their homelands when they are displaced by conflict or crisis and forced to flee.

This is the Refugee Journey at CHIC, hosted by Serve Globally. Once in the tents, students view video testimony from families who have fled their homes in Syria and South Sudan.

One student told the group, “I didn’t know where to go. I lost my ID card, and no one would let me in the tents—they kept saying, ‘Go over there, no, go over there.’” That confusion is common and disorienting. Carolyn Poterek, a CHIC volunteer who teaches in the School of Education at North Park University, told students, “Normally I’m way nicer than I was to you when you came in. The government workers typically make no effort to be kind to the people in the refugee camps.”

When asked what they’d learned from the experience, one student said she didn’t realize that refugees still long to return home. “I thought once they got out, they were glad to escape. I didn’t know they still wanted to go home.”

Another was deeply affected by the video testimony he’d viewed. “They talked about being separated from their relatives. I’m really close to my family. I could never deal with losing any of them,” he said.

“What do these stories have to do with your life?” Wu asked. “We are all sojourners. Before Christ we were separated from God. He adopted us, made us citizens of heaven. Now we seek a better country. Remember your sojourner identity.”

Congregations interested in becoming more aware of refugee stories, engaging with issues of injustice faced by refugees, and working together to raise funds to respond to the refugee crisis around the world can host their own Refugee Journey. Download resources here.

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/17/chic-takes-students-on-refugee-journey/feed/2Uniting Together at CHIChttps://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/15/uniting-together-at-chic/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/15/uniting-together-at-chic/#commentsMon, 16 Jul 2018 04:28:54 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=39722It’s the kickoff to CHIC 2018. More than 5,000 students and leaders are here at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to play, worship, learn, and connect with other teens from the U.S., Canada, and abroad. It's the largest event in the Covenant.

KNOXVILLE, TN (July 15, 2018)—The energy is off the charts. The music is thumpingly energetic, the light show, state-of-the-art.

It’s the kickoff to CHIC 2018.

More than 5,000 students and leaders are here at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to play, worship, learn, and connect with other teens from the U.S., Canada, and abroad. It’s the largest event in the Covenant.

This afternoon’s Welcome Party featured a giant water slide, a foam pit dance party with a DJ, tons of food (hot dogs, sno cones, and pizza), a selfie studio sponsored by Covenant Retirement Communities, and giant inflatable games. Three-dimensional letters spell out “UNITE,” the theme for the week, where students can sign their names each day.

On the MainStage tonight Joseph Sojourner was the host, welcoming students, introducing a new tradition, the CHIC hand shake, and initiating a dance party onstage.

Then Chris Durso, youth pastor at Misfit NYC church, took the stage, focusing on John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

“Do you feel like you aren’t ready yet? You haven’t read enough yet, you haven’t prayed enough?” he asked. “God isn’t looking for you to be perfect. He’s just looking for you to be available.”

Evening sessions throughout the week will be live-streamed here, beginning at 8:00 EST. National Covenant Properties is sponsoring the livestream.

]]>https://covenantcompanion.com/2018/07/15/uniting-together-at-chic/feed/1Radical Generosityhttps://covenantcompanion.com/2017/07/26/radical-generosity/
https://covenantcompanion.com/2017/07/26/radical-generosity/#commentsWed, 26 Jul 2017 12:00:09 +0000http://covenantcompanion.com/?p=35380The idea of gratitude journals used to make me a bit skeptical. If you have to make yourself write down what you’re thankful for, do you really feel grateful?
[...]

The idea of gratitude journals used to make me a bit skeptical. If you have to make yourself write down what you’re thankful for, do you really feel grateful? Or is such intentionality perfunctory by nature?

Then one of my kids was going through a hard season, and I was feeling anything but grateful. And one day I finally got it. Looking for something to be thankful for, especially when it’s not easy, is exactly the point of such a practice. The act of seeking out moments of grace when they seemed impossible changed my outlook. I realized I never would have noticed the small gifts that did come along if I hadn’t been deliberately looking for them.

In Love Let Go Laura Sumner Truax and Amalya Campbell talk about learning to reclaim our identities as giving people. “We learn thankfulness by thanking,” they write. “That’s what those gratitude journals are all about. It’s the ongoing habit of naming our blessings on a regular basis…that leads to the benefits of better health, deeper sleep, and greater connectedness with others.”

Their book tells the fascinating story of how radical generosity changed their community at LaSalle Street Church in Chicago, where Truax serves as senior pastor.

Back in the 1970s the church had partnered with a handful of other faith communities to build some much-needed low-income housing in the city. Thirty-five years later the property was sold, and LaSalle’s portion of the proceeds was an incredible $1,530,116.78.

The amount was approximately double their church budget. And they were in the midst of a $50,000 deficit. What would they do with all that cash?

This is the intriguing account of how the church figured that out.

After some initial discernment among the leadership, they decided to start by giving each person in the congregation a check for $500, with the instructions to go out and do good in God’s world. It was a tithe of the full amount, and they named the campaign LoveLetGo.

Some people sent their share of the funds overseas to organizations doing good in the world. Some gave theirs back to the church. One homeless man in the congregation rounded up his friends who lived under the viaduct and took them to a show and a restaurant for dinner. “For the whole day it didn’t feel like they were homeless,” he said. “It was a good feeling to help somebody out like that.”

Another man named Dan wanted to give away his money in person $20 at a time. He knocked on the door of a daycare center in his neighborhood to ask if one of the parents might be in need. The woman who opened the door responded with skepticism. No, she didn’t know anyone who would need that, she said as she tried to close the door. When the man repeated his offer, explaining that it really was a free gift, she hesitated. Finally she asked, “Could I keep it and use it myself?” It wasn’t the response he expected, but he said sure, if she really needed it. “She blessed him and called him an angel, saying she never thought she would see an angel. With tears in his eyes, Dan blessed her back.”

Narratives of such individual decisions are interspersed with sociological research about giving, what makes a happy life, or psychological hurdles we face in our efforts to live generously.

But what makes Love Let Go so compelling is the long, slow process LaSalle Street Church went through to decide not only where the rest of the money should go but who they were as a congregation and who they were becoming. The authors talk about listening inside out (brainstorming, researching, and meditating) and listening outside in (paying attention to the needs of the world and their community—identifying “the sweet spot of generosity [that] comes at the congruence of identity and unmet needs”). They practiced thankfulness—and they let go.

What makes Love Let Go so compelling is the process LaSalle Street Church went through to decide not only where the money should go but who they were as a congregation and who they were becoming.

A quick search on Amazon for book titles with the word “generosity” can produce an overwhelming list. Often such reading can make for guilt-inducing despair. How many of us can claim to be truly generous all the time?

Love Let Go is different. I couldn’t put it down. The transformation that began in this one congregation seems accessible, as if readers could join the movement. And the generosity unleashed didn’t stop with this project—one year after LaSalle distributed the $500 checks, the church was asked to help sponsor refugees arriving in their community. They needed housing and expenses for a newly arriving family. That meant raising $6,000 in three weeks. It was more than a little daunting.

They raised $39,000.

Sumner and Campbell write that the church had realized that “the dollars they gave through LoveLetGo looked awfully similar to the dollars sitting in their wallets and bank accounts.”

And in the end, “That’s where generosity starts. With where you are and who you are right now, at this very moment.” Amen.

Plenty of Bible programs and apps are available for purchase at prices that range from a dollar to more than $1,000. But many excellent free sites provide a wealth of materials and capabilities. Several carry public domain commentaries, but each of the sites below includes helpful resources. Some include tools that are more technical, others are accessible to any user. These were suggested by fellow Covenanters so check out what others are using.

Don’t let the title fool you. “Studylight” has many of the commentaries and Bibles that are unavailable on other sites. It has one of the better interlinear displays. It also includes various devotionals and Bible reading plans.

“The Text This Week” serves as a resource center connecting the preacher to a wealth of articles, online commentaries, artwork, children’s sermons, prayers for worship, and more for each text in the lectionary.

For a site that might initially seem sparse, “Bible Hub” has a lot to offer, including Google maps that give access to what some of the biblical sites look like today. Their interlinear Bible and parallel texts also are very good.

ST. PAUL, MN (December 28, 2015) – A celebration of life service for former Covenant missionary Marian Jean (Stewart) Enos will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, January 21, 2016, at Roselawn Chapel in Roseville, Minnesota. She died Tuesday, December 15.

Marian, 91, was born in Dugger, Indiana, on August 3, 1924. She married Glen Enos. He preceded her in death.

Marian completed her nurse’s training at Epworth Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana. She attended Moody Bible School. After raising her children she returned to college at the University of Minnesota, completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. At age 60 she finished her doctorate of adult education.

Marian and Glen served in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1954 to 1964. In the 1970s she went back to practicing nursing first in the hospital and later in a residential home for persons with seizure disorders. She held several teaching positions at Metropolitan State University, South Dakota State University, and Augsburg College.

Accidental Pilgrim

A trip to the Holy Land points to the deep mystery of Christmas—
God revealed in the unexpected.

When my kids were young, I worked hard to create meaningful Advent seasons in our house. I bought ornate calendars that included accompanying texts and responsive readings. We added straw to a little wooden manger piece by piece every time someone showed kindness in the house. I carefully laid out dozens of Christmas books, planning to read a new one each night with the boys at bedtime. We tried to focus on homemade gifts and non-commercialized outings, all in an effort to create a peaceful, reflective house in the midst of an all-too hectic season.

But it was impossible to sustain. Three days in a row, we’d forget to open the Advent calendar windows. Christmas would be around the corner, yet the manger remained disconcertingly empty of kindness straw. And every time I suggested reading one of our lovely picture books, the boys responded, “Nah. Let’s read Percy Jackson.”

Those practices were important of course, even when we were inconsistent. But the best moments usually ended up being unscripted—singing silly Christmas songs in the car together, or the four-way debate about which balsam fir was perfect for our house. In other words, moments of consolation, as St. Ignatius called them, usually happened by accident.

It’s a lesson I have to keep learning. The hyper-scheduler in our family, I am surrounded by two boys and a husband who would all prefer to wing it in pretty much every situation. I’m prone to lists and schedules and plans. On trips they’ve nicknamed me “the captain of the guidebook.”

I tend to approach my life with God the same way. When I was younger I followed Bible reading plans, methodical devotional schedules, and prayed through stacks of names attached to D-rings. Now I seek out liturgy, lectionary readings, and pray through the Book of Common Prayer.

So it was a bit out of character to find myself on an unplanned pilgrimage this past year.

An invitation to travel to Jordan with a group of religious journalists seemed a great opportunity to see and learn about a part of the world I knew little of, and to expand my professional horizons. It wasn’t a full-blown Holy Land trip, but perhaps this would be less daunting.

Even so, I wasn’t exactly sure why I would go.

I’d heard plenty of sermon illustrations from pastors who had been to the Holy Land, accounts of how meaningful it was to walk in places where Jesus had actually stepped, to see Golgotha and Jerusalem and Bethlehem. But those stories never resonated with my rationalized faith. It’s not as if evangelicals have an especially rich history of pilgrimage. We iconoclasts knew Jesus lived in our hearts. Why did it matter where he was baptized two thousand years ago? We didn’t need to visit holy sites to meet God. We just had to read the Bible.

In contrast, the religious practices of my Catholic classmates were strangely tactile. Beads for praying, crucifixes with Jesus still on the cross (didn’t they know he’s risen from the dead?), and all those relics—splinters from the cross itself, bone fragments of the martyrs, vials of holy water. It all seemed superstitious and illogical.

Place Identity

The idea of pilgrimage took devotion even further. Rome is strewn with basilicas containing the chains that held Peter, fragments of Jesus’s crib, footprints marking where Peter met Jesus on the way to Rome. The Santuario della Scala Santa (Chapel of the Holy Steps) in Rome is said to contain the twenty-eight stairs that Jesus climbed to meet Pilate—which were brought there from Jerusalem by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine. Pilgrims to the site ascend the stairs on their knees as they pray through Christ’s Passion. Surely such sites were historically significant, but how, I wondered, did the pious manage to generate such intense feelings of devotion?

And what would it look like to go to the birthplace of Christianity itself? As our departure date neared, I grew anxious. Hardly a veteran traveler, I worried about a growing list of things I could not plan. Unrest was flaring up in the region, so I wondered about our safety. I didn’t know one other person on the trip. What if I got sick? What if my numbers-challenged brain couldn’t keep track of the exchange rate? What if I had no one to talk to on the long bus rides? And what if I wasn’t overcome by the power of the place? What if I never became a bona fide pilgrim?

I tried to prepare—read the advance materials and press releases, study maps, learn some history. But overwhelmed, I gave up. The itinerary was pre-determined. I’d just have to enjoy the ride.

Once we arrived in Jordan, we visited significant ancient places—Mt. Nebo, where Moses got his glimpse of the Promised Land; Mukawir, Herod’s summer palace where John the Baptist was beheaded. One day George, our tour guide, pointed out across the hills, the cliff of the Gerasenes, where we could imagine angry farmers running Jesus out of town after their demon-possessed pigs tumbled over the edge. At Bethany-beyond-Jordan we dipped our fingers in the river where Jesus was baptized. The sites were mostly rustic and undeveloped. Archeologists continue to dig everywhere, so much history still to be uncovered.

Yet those holy places were only part of the trip. Along the way, we encountered many who served as witnesses to our journey.

Photo above: Al Khazneh (The Treasury) sits at the entrance to the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan.

God With Us

We met an Argentinian priest who cares for thirty-two children in an orphanage in Jerash, one of the poorest regions in the country. We met Christians who reminded us proudly that their homeland is the birthplace of our faith. It was striking how many people in Jordan—politicians and restaurateurs, Muslims and Christians, drivers and salespeople—told us that their country is a place of peace, that they actively work to construct a culture of peace in a region rife with far too much violence. Coming from a setting where we can afford to argue fiercely about small things, I met one person after another who fiercely embraced Jordan’s identity as mediator and peacekeeper in a place better known for its religious and political conflicts.

And we met individuals who were fleeing for their lives from ISIS. Suddenly faraway news stories had names and faces.

One priest was flinging open doors and making up beds in his church where he housed dozens and dozens of refugee families who showed up on his doorstep. Another, asked why he allowed Muslim students to attend his school, explained, “We are educating people to live together.” One after another, the Christians we met asked us to pray—for them, for peace, for Jordan, for the Middle East.

And for ten days a handful of North American journalists and I shared close quarters on long bus rides. We teased each other, laughed together, and got on each other’s nerves. And we wept when we encountered suffering.

I had no visions, no holy epiphanies. But I saw God in ways I never anticipated. I embraced my fears and did something new. I encountered God in other people. Instead of being lonely, I developed unexpected friendships. I saw the face of God reflected in my fellow travelers—each smart, funny, cranky, impatient, beautiful one. I met God in Jordanian priests who passionately and urgently cared for their people, who cannot risk pretending that the life of the church is separate from the life of their state. I saw Jesus in our long-suffering tour guide who led and educated us through long days, and in homeless Iraqi Christians forced to start over in a completely foreign place, while at the same time expressing their steadfast faith in God and compassion for one another.

It turned out, I became an accidental pilgrim. I thought I was supposed to find God in the places, but I found God in the people. In typical divine fashion, God’s blessing was a surprise, breaking into my well-charted course and upending my plans. And Jesus Christ, the gift of Christmas, comes to us the same way—God’s gift of love to us. Love divine, loves excelling, indeed.

“As previously noted, Mark Novak is on a temporary family medical leave to care for his wife, Marilyn, as he described earlier in a memo to the Ministerium (see below). The Board of Ordered Ministry, with the concurrence of the ECC Executive Board, has identified Curt Peterson to fill the role on a temporary basis until Mark returns. Mark hopes to return shortly.”

Peterson, who recently concluded his service as executive minister for Serve Globally, is very familiar with the work of Ordered Ministry through his previous Covenant responsibilities. He is also a former chair of the Board of Ordered Ministry.

October 13, 2015

Dear Colleagues,

I want you all to be aware of the events in my life over the last two months. The second weekend of August found me in Neurological Intensive Care with my wife, Marilyn. Since that time she has endured numerous biopsies, MRIs and so many other tests that I can’t count them all. At this time she remains under doctors’ care in Seattle where we continue to seek answers to her medical issues with very few answers. We do know that the lesions in her brain are inoperable causing Parkinson-like symptoms. She requires 24-hour care into the unforeseeable future so we are grateful that these events happened in Seattle close to our family. They have been an incredible support already. She is currently at Covenant Shores working with rehab as we await further developments.

I will be on a short-term family medical leave at least through the rest of October in order to give myself completely to Marilyn’s care while we hope for a more definitive diagnosis and course of treatment from there. The staff in Develop Leaders – Ordered Ministry have been incredible during this difficult time and are, as always, ready to assist you in any way they can. My email will be redirected to them during this time. You may also call them, or consult with your conference office.

I covet your prayers for Marilyn and for our extended family as we struggle through this rude intrusion into our lives. I also ask you to pray for an answer to her condition for it is impossible to fight what you can’t identify. The medical team at the University of Washington Hospital has been wonderful and have dedicated themselves to helping us find the answers we need. And to all those who have learned of these events and have sent notes or texts of encouragement, thank you! We feel incredibly supported and are learning to take one step at a time, trusting God with each new day.